Laura Hargrave: Memory Line at Kamloops Art Gallery

KAMLOOPS – Through her experimental drawings, Laura Hargrave recreates the experience of memory loss. With her back to the drawing surface Hargrave renders life-size figures as a way of challenging the normal observation and recording process of image creation. She draws blindly, relying only on memory for reference so that the resulting imagery takes on a mix of blind contour and continuous line drawing.

The drawings are skewed and proportions take on a slightly altered look, playing with their relationship in space. Through this practice, Hargrave explores the loss of memory that comes with age and reflects on its effects on friends and relatives. Figures in the drawings appear to wander the gallery as if lost or searching for something, both floating and grounding themselves across the walls of the gallery.

Laura Hargrave is a Kamloops-based artist working in experimental drawing, mixed media and installation. She obtained her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Victoria and her Master of Fine Arts from the University of Regina. In 2007, Hargrave participated in a seven-week international residency at the Banff Centre, Walking and Art. Her walking projects range from the subdivisions of Don Mills, Ontario to the Barringer Meteor Crater in Arizona. In 2010, she led a Jane's Walk, Frottage a Garage, in the back lanes of Kamloops to celebrate the memory of urban theorist Jane Jacobs.

Curated by Craig Willms, Assistant Curator, Kamloops Art Gallery